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THE BLESSED DAMOZEJl f Jr 
AS FIRST WRITTEN BY DANTE 
GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND PUB- 
LISHED IN "THE GERM" IN 
1850 j* * REPRINTED FOR M. F. 
MANSFIELD, TWENTY -TWO E. 
SIXTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK 
MDCCCXCVIII.** j* J- * J jt j* jk 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL 



IRST WRITTEN BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 
rlRST PUBLISHED IN "THE GERM" IN 1850 




2nd 




189 



>* £7* 



REPRINTED FOR M. F. MANSFIELD, TWENTY -TWO 
EAST SIXTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK. MDCCCXCVIII. 





Copyright 




J898 




Blanche McManus 


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FOREWORD- 

It was in 1848 that the little band of Pre-Raphael- 
ites of whom Dante Gabriel Rossetti was primus 
inter pares, first formed themselves into a constitu- 
ent body, with avowed aims, and it was in the 
same year that " The Blessed Damozel " sprang to 
birth. 

Then came, in 1850, the short-lived organ of that 
enthusiastic few, The Germ, which lasted through 
four numbers, and in this transitory expression of 
Pre-Raphaelite aims, creed and conscience the 
" Damozel," with several other of Rossetti's poems, 
first held converse with the world. 

The Germ was really " an official manifesto 
or apologia of Pre-Raphaelitism : " all that it had to 
preach was the noble doctrine of the sacredness, 
the saving grace, of conscience in art. 

There are those who deem the later and extended 
form of ** The Blessed Damozel " superior to the 
original inspiration. 'But it has been rightly said 
that in the proportion that Rossetti rewrote the poem 
he marred that power which one feels to be inher- 
ent in the utter simplicity of the original, a power 
which Blake says is the page of Inspiration, the 
ability to see imaginary objects and dramatic ac- 
tions, — physically as well as mentally, — and flash- 
ing them upon the imaginations (even upon the 
corporal senses) of others. 

It is from complete accord with this judgment as 
regards the poet and the poem that the following 
reprint of u The Blessed Damozel n in its original 
form as it appeared in 1850 in The Germ (from 
which it is taken) is offered to the public. 



A 



SONNET TO D. G. R. 



Master, whose very names have god-like power . , 
Of song and light divine, being his who went /\ 

Unscathed through blearing fire omnipotent, 
Singing for men ; and his who, hour by hour, 
Stands in the imminent and splendid shower 
Of God's effulgence ; and being lastly blent 
With the warm light and odour effluent 
Of your own rhymes, our latest, loveliest dower, 
Not in our own land could my weakness mock 
Your strength with homages of my poor May-day; 
The applause of circling poets scared my song. 
But here, where twenty thousand thunders shock 
The violent air for leagues of dim sea-way, 
Surely my heart may speak, nor do you wrong ! 

EDMUND GOSSE. 

Outside Bergen Harbour, August, 1871. 



THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



The blessed Damozel leaned out 
From the gold bar of Heaven: 

Her blue grave eyes were deeper 
much 
Than a deep water, even. 

She had three lilies in her hand, 
And the stars in her hair were 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem 
No wrought flowers did adorn, 

But a white rose of Mary's gift 
On the neck meetly worn ; 

And her hair, lying down her back, 
Was yellow like ripe corn. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



Herseemed she scarce had been a 
day 

One of God's choristers ; 
The wonder was not yet quite gone 

From that still look of her's ; 
Albeit to them she left, her day 

Had counted as ten years. 





THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
IV. 

(To one it is ten years of years: 

. . . Yet now, here in this place, 

Surely she leaned o'er me, — her 

hair 

Fell all about my face 

Nothing: the Autumn — fall of 
leaves. 
The whole year sets apace.) 



THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



It was the terrace of God's house 
That she was standing on, 

By God built over the sheer depth 
In which Space is begun; 

So high that looking downward 
thence, 
She could scarce see the sun. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
VI. 

It lies from Heaven across the flood 

Of ether, as a bridge. 
Beneath, the tides of day and night 

With flame and blackness ridge 
The void, as low as where this 
earth 

Spins like a fretful midge. 





THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



VII. 



Hr* 



But in those tracts, with her, it was 

The peace of utter light 
And silence. For no breeze may stir 

Along the steady flight 
Of seraphim ; no echo there, 

Beyond all depth or height. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



Heard hardly, some of her new 
friends, 
Playing at holy games, 
Spake,gentle-mouthed, among them- 
selves, 
Their virginal chaste names ; 
And the souls, mounting up to God, 
Went by her like thin flames. 





THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
IX. 



And still she bowed herself and 
stooped 
Into the vast waste calm; 
Till her bosom's pressure must have 
made 
The bar she leaned on warm, 
And the lilies lay as if asleep 
Along her bended arm. 



THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



From the fixt lull of Heaven, she 
saw 
Time, like a pulse, shake fierce 
Through all the worlds. Her gaze 
still strove, 
In that steep gulph, to pierce 
The swarm: and then she spake, 
as when 
The stars sang in their spheres. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



" I wish that he were come to me, 

For he will come/' she said. 
"Have I not prayed in solemn 
Heaven ? 
On earth, has he not prayed ? 
Are not two prayers a perfect 
strength ? 
And shall I feel afraid. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XIL 



"When round his head the aureole 
clings, 
And he is clothed in white, 
I'll take his hand, and go with him 

To the deep wells of light, 
And we will step down as to a 
stream 
And bathe there in God's sight. 

I 





THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XIII. 

" We two will stand beside that 
shrine t 
Occult, withheld, untrod, 
Whose lamps tremble continually 

With prayer sent up to God ; 
And where each need, revealed, ex- 
pects 
Its patient period. 



THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XIV. 






** We two will lie i' the shadow of 

That living mystic tree 
Within whose secret growth the 
Dove 
Sometimes is felt to be, 
While every leaf that His plumes 
touch 
Saith His name audibly. 



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THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



44 And I myself will teach to him — 

I myself, lying so, — 
The songs I sing here ; which his 
mouth 
Shall pause in, hushed and slow, 
Finding some knowledge at each 
pause 
And some new thing to know/' 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



(Alas ! to her wise simple mind 
These things were all but known 

Before: they trembled on her 
sense, — 
Her voice had caught their tone. 

Alas for lonely Heaven ! Alas 
For life wrung out alone ! 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XVII. 



Alas, and though the end were 
reached? . . . 
Was thy part understood 
Or borne in trust ? And for her 
sake 
Shall this too be found good ? — 
May the close lips that knew not 
prayer 
Praise ever, though they would ?) 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XVIII. 



"We two/' she said, "will seek 
the groves 
Where the lady Mary is, 
With her five handmaidens, whose 
names 
Are five sweet symphonies : — 
Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen, 
Margaret and Rosalys. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



"Circle-wise sit they, with bound 
locks 

And bosoms covered; 
Into the fine cloth, white like flame, 

Weaving the golden thread, 
To fashion the birth-robes for them 

Who are just born, being dead. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XX. 



He shall fear haply, and be dumb. 

Then I will lay my cheek 
To his, and tell about our love, 

Not once abashed or weak : 
And the dear Mother will approve 

My pride, and let me speak. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XXI. 



"Herself shall bring us, hand in 
hand, 
To Him round whom all souls 
Kneel — the unnumbered solemn 
heads 
Bowed with their aureoles : 
And Angels, meeting us, shall sing 
To their citherns and citoles. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XXII. 

44 There will I ask of Christ the 
Lord 
Thus much for him and me: — 
To have more blessing than on 
earth 
In nowise ; but to be 
As then we were, — being as then 
At peace. Yea, verily. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XXIIL 

"Yea, verily; when he is come 
We will do thus and thus : 

Till this my vigil seem quite strange 
And almost fabulous; 

We two will live at once, one life; 
And peace shall be with us/ 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 



XXIV. 



She gazed, and listened, and then 
said, 
Less sad of speech than mild : 
" All this is when he comes." She 
ceased : 
The light thrilled past her, filled 
With Angels, in strong level lapse. 
Her eyes prayed, and she smiled. 




THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
XXV. 



(I saw her smile.) But soon their 
flight 
Was vague 'mid the poised 
spheres. 
And then she cast her arms along 

The golden barriers, 
And laid her face between her 
hands, 
And wept. (I heard her tears.) 




•*3f 



THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 

OF THIS EDITION 500 COPIES .... 
. . . WERE PRINTED IN MARCH, 1898. 

PAGE DECORATIONS BY 

BLANCHE McMANUS. 






















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